Patty's Missing

“…she had so many children, she didn’t know what to do.” The old woman in the shoe describes Donnie and Shirley’s household. They had six children who always had friends around. It was a madhouse.

Donnie was one of the first people to adopt the van, as a mode of transportation for big families. Donnie, Shirley, the six kids and their many friends, piled in the van for a weekend trip, from Vancouver to Seattle. After a boisterous weekend, they started the journey home, tired from all the weekend activity. Too far to make it on one tank, Donnie stopped for gas at a roadside stop on the busy freeway. Everyone hopped out for bathroom breaks, drinks, snacks and whatever.

Everyone in? OK, it’s off again. Only another few hours to home. Shirley tried to keep the crowd under control. Then she went cold. “Where is Patty? Is Patty back there?” No one could account for Patty.

“Donnie, stop the car, Patty’s missing, we forgot Patty.”

An hour had passed since they stopped for gas. On the freeway there aren’t many places where you can reverse directions. It was over two hours by the time they got back to the service station and found eight year old Patty, in absolute hysterics, as the workers at the gas station tried to comfort her.

Who knows what kind of impact an event has on children, but Patty did not grow up to be a normal person. She has had oodles of psychological and emotional problems as an adult is not a functioning member of society. Can it all be traced back to this trip?

(272 words)